


Learned

by notcrindy



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: A series of one shots, AND WHY, AUs man, Gen, about how Taako chooses to go into each school of magic, yeah idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 16:43:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15223397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notcrindy/pseuds/notcrindy
Summary: Taako learns a different school of magic each time.Here are the outcomes and reasons for each decision.





	Learned

The first time Taako gets a feel for what he wants to do with the rest of his life, he’s young.

They’re in the middle of a particularly bad storm, huddled up in their bedroom. Abuelito doesn’t like to be disturbed during the night while he sleeps, not for anything, so even as the wind wails and rattles everything, he has to be so quiet. His ears perk up as a _crack_ of thunder is heard, followed by a violent _flash_ of lightning, and he tries to ignore the frantic beating of his own heart.

It’s harder to ignore the sound and sight of his twin climbing down from the top bunk, looking at him with all the fear in the world. He hates to see Lup this way: her ears are drooped all the way down with fear, and she nearly _screams_ as another crack of thunder sends her into bed with him. “Move _over,_ ” she orders of him. “I’m _scared._ ”

“Yeah,” he agrees, “this lightning _sucks._ It can’t hurt you, though, Lulu. I’ll protect you; don’t worry.”

“I don’t need you to _protect_ me, Taaks,” she insists. “But you can try not to hog all the blankets.”

“Deal,” he says, as she slides into bed with him and _clings_ to him.

“‘sides,” she adds, “it’s not like you can control it.”

Taako thinks about that for awhile, long after the storm subsides and Lup sleeps.

  

The next time he thinks about it, he’s a little older. He and Lup are both twelve now, outcast but never alone, getting by doing work on different caravans and on the side. They live off of scraps, and spring and summer aren’t so bad even though sometimes it gets too hot, but the cold is _bitter_ and _brutal_ in the winter. As he and Lup practically huddle together, small and alone, for warmth, he thinks about it.

She’s cold. She’s _too_ cold. He gives her all the blankets, all the jackets and ratty scarves he can pick up for scant bits of money, makes her soups and teas when he can afford it, and does his best to keep her warm, but nature defies him. Snow comes down; hail comes down; they take shelter under awnings when possible and huddle when it isn’t.

It isn’t until he’s rummaging through some old fogey’s book that he comes across it: evocation. He sees something about fire and he reads diligently, reads with focus, even as the snow comes down in sheets. He tries to keep her warm, she gets _sick_ next. That’s when it just won’t fucking _do,_ it can’t fucking do. He nabs some wizard’s wand and even as a young child he feels it _fighting_ against him, trying to stubbornly refuse to cast anything. He decides against it, in some strange way, and devotes to tending to her until she gets better.

He pores over that book for years.

 

When he’s finally old enough to attend school, the paths they’ve both taken seem natural. Taako goes for evocation, and Lup goes for transmutation, and this suits both of them. She makes jokes about how he’ll have to be careful not to burn down the place; he rolls his eyes and says it’s too bad she can’t make herself more funny and witty. They study diligently, obtain their own magic wands, and he practices.

He practices hard enough to become one of seven people chosen to go on a space expedition, evidently. Truth be told, he does love science, but he's mostly tagging along to make sure Lup is okay. She's always so reckless, she’d probably turn her body to gold or something stupid if she could. He sees the way she’s _so happy_ the day she finally uses her magic to become what she’s always been, and how happy and enthusiastic she is about space, and… ...well, he has to go.

And go he does.

There are a lot of adventures after that. A fun time with a mongoose family and the resident bluejeans nerd, a stint trying to cast dancing lights to make them look like the Light, a beach trip where he mostly surfs, evading a huge smooth polished seashell that Lup has transmuted the volleyball into as he does, a trip where he tries excellent food as always, a trip with disagreements over robots where things get a little heated but work out… Lup becomes a _lich,_ for some fucking reason...

...and then it comes time to make their relics.

It’s no surprise that hers is a stone with cheesy flame decals. He almost feels as though she’s mocking him with those, and sticks out his tongue at her. Pairs nicely with her tacky umbrella, though. He makes less of a gauntlet and more of a _decorative_ piece, extra as hell and shimmering and sparkling. Light and easy even for someone like him to use. It makes fire.

They come up with the plan, work to hide ‘em.

It’s not exactly easy on Taako, y’know, seeing black glass pop up every now and again, but hey. Everyone he ever met was dust, anyway. It’s depressing, but it’s just the fucking truth. And this is just what they have to do.

But Lup gets quieter. Quieter even than usual. Whole swaths of the planet turn different colors. People kill over gold, over this endless gold money-maker. They kill over the ability to transform the environment around them. Swaths of gold, swaths of marble. But the worst comes when they spot a swath of peppermint. They see a child has transmuted an enitre town into peppermint, and every single one of them has died.

He tries to convince her it’s not her fault.

She doesn’t listen.

 

The last time he thinks about it, he’s in grief and anguish. He burnt up the note. He’s going down there to find her. He’s burning it all up until he can see that familiar burnt glass, tears spilling down his cheeks. Barry tries to calm him down.

“We can find her, Taako. We can find her. We can--”

Static sets in and nothing makes sense.

“Who?”

**Author's Note:**

> idk, i hope this was good. i've been planning on writing this for months LMAO and just finally finished it tonight. WOO. more to come!


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